It’s expected that the soccer startup Bay Area Pro Soccer will soon announce a new NASL professional soccer team that will begin playing in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2017.
Last week the organization released its logo, but it still has not announced the team’s name or its stadium location. With “SF” featuring prominently in the logo it is believed the team prefers to play in the city of San Francisco. However, Bay Area Pro Soccer’s CEO Brian Andrés Helmick posted on Twitter last month that they are exploring options throughout the Bay Area, including the east bay and the peninsula.
@OaklandNASL Thanks for the shared excitement and support. We’re looking at various venues in the Bay Area including your side of the bay!
— Brian Andrés Helmick (@brianhelmick) December 18, 2015
A crowd of 7,219 came to watch the San Jose Earthquakes play a “home” game against the Seattle Sounders in a US Open Cup Quarterfinal match in 2012 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. (Douglas Zimmerman)
Where could a professional soccer team play in the Bay Area?
Currently in the NASL teams play in stadiums with a seating capacity between 5,000 (FC Edmonton) and 22,000 (Puerto Rico FC). Only 3 of the leagues 12 teams play in soccer-specific stadiums (Puerto Rico FC, Minnesota United, and the Carolina Rail Hawks). In 2015, the league’s teams averaged just under 6000 fans per game. The highest average attendance in the league was achieved by The Indy Eleven with 9,800 fans a game. The lowest average attendance was by FC Edmonton at 2,900 fans a game.
There are many facilities that could potentially host a professional soccer team in the region but each stadium has its pros and cons. Some may require additional financial investments to bring them up to the necessary standards of a professional sports team. In the slideshow above we take our best guess about the possible future home for the Bay Area’s NASL soccer team.
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